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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24803767">surprise me</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/vois/pseuds/vois'>vois</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Densetsu no Yuusha no Densetsu | The Legend of the Legendary Heroes</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Role Reversal, Denyuuden AU Week 2020, M/M</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-06-19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-06-19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 01:07:04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,539</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24803767</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/vois/pseuds/vois</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>What made Tiir frightening was his unpredictability. That was what Sion had told him, once.</p><p>Sion was wrong, of course, but that wasn't surprising.</p><p>Nothing about him was surprising anymore.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Sion Astal/Tiir Rumibul</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>surprise me</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>The sky was clear and bright on the day that Sion sent him away.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It didn't mean anything in particular. Tiir just looked out the window as Sion droned on and on.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>" - you're not listening, are you," Sion said, exasperated. As if he had the right to be exasperated with him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Oh, should I have been? I figured it was more of the same useless nonsense as always."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Behind them, Claugh coughed. But when Tiir glanced over, he couldn't hide his grin.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Tiir smiled back, because he knew it'd bother Sion to no end. Even though they'd been separated for ages, he was still jealous and suspicious whenever Tiir looked at other men.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>But then again, Sion had always been possessive. Tiir had just mistaken it for protectiveness at first, as headache-inducing that had been. But not again.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"That's hardly any way to speak to your king," Sion said, trying to draw his attention back in. But Tiir made sure to thin his smile and close his eyes when turning to face him. Just in case Sion was being willfully blind again, he made sure to throw in a bit of sarcasm.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I would never </span>
  <em>
    <span>dream</span>
  </em>
  <span> of insulting my king so," Tiir said, and realized his mistake a second too late. He'd said 'my king'. 'My'. Sion would definitely read too much into it - it was Sion, after all.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Well, I'm glad to, ahem, know that," Sion said. Claugh coughed twice in quick succession. Probably he was laughing. "Anyways, you'll have a… coworker with you for this mission, of course."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Was he avoiding the word 'companion'? The word 'partner'? How petty. Tiir decided to make this as hard as possible for him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Do I get to choose?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Well, as long as it's within reason, I suppose - "</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Claugh," Tiir said, and opened his eyes to gaze soulfully at the man. It wasn't even that hard to fake it. They'd only fought side-by-side a few times during Sion's revolution, since they were both easily worth an army and there was usually no reason to have them both in the same place, but those few battles had been… </span>
  <em>
    <span>exhilirating</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Also, Claugh had let Tiir take a bite out of him, once. That wasn't something anyone could just up and forget.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Apparently Sion was thinking the same, because his eyes flitted to Claugh's prosthetic before darting away again. "No," he said, "absolutely not."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Tiir pouted and latched onto Claugh's arm. Sure, he knew it wasn't going to happen. He didn't even want it to happen, since the two of them didn't actually get along if they were together for extended periods of time. Claugh was too… </span>
  <em>
    <span>masculine</span>
  </em>
  <span>, for lack of a better descriptor, and Tiir could not stand the mess. "You're like a naggy wife," Claugh had complained once, before coloring and kicking Tiir out of his freaky, mirror-covered room. Tiir had been so bewildered that he'd let it happen.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"But my king," Tiir said, and pressed closer to Claugh, who coughed again except this time it sounded more like an 'urk'. "We fight so well together, and Claugh taught me </span>
  <em>
    <span>so many things</span>
  </em>
  <span> during the war." Things like reading maps and doing math, ugh. "I'm sure he could teach me </span>
  <em>
    <span>so much more</span>
  </em>
  <span>, you know? We make a great pair - "</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Probably he was laying it on too thick. But it was funny watching Sion's face turn purple.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Your king says no, and that's final," Sion argued. Tiir blinked. He had expected Sion to hold out a bit longer. "Sir Klom is the Grand Marshal of Roland's army and we cannot afford for him to leave its borders."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Oh, the royal 'we'. It was funny how Sion only ever seemed to pull that out over petty things like this. "What, are you planning another war," Tiir said, as if they hadn't just gotten out of one a few years ago. "So fast. Well, then, perhaps Stokkart - "</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"No!" </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The interruption came from Claugh this time. Both Tiir and Sion swivelled to stare at him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Why not?" Tiir asked, baffled. "Stokkart actually </span>
  <em>
    <span>likes</span>
  </em>
  <span> me, you know." They'd met even less often than he and Claugh had, during the war, and only once after it. But they'd gotten along, swapping recipes and talking about kids. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>And also making fun of Claugh, but Claugh didn't know that. Yet.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I know," Claugh said, reddening. He looked away and rubbed the back of his neck. "I just, uh."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>...ohhh. So everyone in this room was insecure and possessive, then?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Fine, not Stokkart," Tiir decided. Ignoring Sion's grumble of 'why don't you argue with him too', he ran through the other options in his head. Calne was… absolutely not. Even if suggesting it jokingly would give Sion a conniption, Tiir was getting a headache just thinking about it. Froaude… also no. Sion might decide that getting the nuisance out of his court was worth having a very pretty man travel for months with Tiir, alone. Tiir didn't </span>
  <em>
    <span>actually</span>
  </em>
  <span> want to be stuck with him. He was fairly sure he'd fall victim to a 'tragic accident' or two, the tragic accidents in question being named Pochi and Kuro.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I could borrow Lucile," Tiir suggested, but it was half-hearted at best. Sion just shook his head.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"As much as I'd love to loan you my last line of defense, Lucile genuinely cannot leave the country borders. It's an Eris thing."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Oh." Tiir squinted. He didn't know much about the man other than that he could teleport and turn invisible, probably by means of some unethical experimenting. But then why was Claugh here, if Lucile was supposed to be Sion's protector? Well, no, that was unfair. He understood it. Lucile certainly hadn't intervened the last several times Tiir tried to strangle Sion. That was all Claugh. But Tiir hadn't been serious about killing him, then. And if Lucile had been watching, well, was it that he trusted Claugh to take care of the situation or could he tell that Tiir wasn't a genuine threat at the moment?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>What a pain.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"So if Erises can't leave the country, I can't take Ferris with me, which leaves…"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sion paled rapidly. It was all Tiir could do not to grin. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Kiefer was in Estabul at the moment, but she could be recalled at any time. The magic she knew allowed her to cross countries in minutes - not as quick as Tiir, of course, but she would be much better at keeping pace than anyone else. She was also very experienced with research and information gathering, and her infiltration abilities - honed to mastery during the war - would definitely help if they needed to break into any ruins or museums. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She was, in every aspect, the perfect partner for a mission like this. The fact Sion hadn't assigned her to be Tiir's partner meant just one thing.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sion was still jealous.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Or maybe he was more jealous than ever, even.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Tiir and Kiefer had dated for some time during their academy days. Like with Sion, their relationship hadn't held up under the strain of war. Unlike with Sion, they had separated amicably. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>So amicably that they still met up for coffee whenever Kiefer was back in Roland. Crossing entire provinces to meet her at the border was no trouble for him, after all.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sion spluttered through his excuses, which was extremely gratifying. "Kiefer is on a very important mission," he said, as if there could be anything more important than the retrieval of world-ending magical artifacts. "You need a wider range of skills available," as if they didn't cover everything that could possibly be important between the two of them (Kiefer moreso. She was adaptable. She was a </span>
  <em>
    <span>spy</span>
  </em>
  <span>.) "Besides, did I say Erises? It's just the head of House Eris. Ferris is fine. She's wanted to leave the country to try new types of dango, anyways!" </span>
</p><p>
  <span>What, and leave Wynnit and her baby sister behind? Tiir squinted, then shrugged. He'd prefer babysitting the littlest Eris, but Ferris wasn't too bad of company, he supposed. She was just thoroughly… </span>
  <em>
    <span>strange</span>
  </em>
  <span>. Even for a human.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She was also very vocal about liking women, so Sion wouldn't consider her hooking up with Tiir to be a risk. There was no way he could provoke him, then. How sad. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maybe he could convince her to make up reports saying that Tiir met some foreign man and wanted to - no, haha, that was totally unbelievable. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Ferris, then. Why bother saying I could choose if you'd more or less decided from the beginning?" He'd meant for it to be amused, teasing; instead it just came out bitter. Claugh made a strangled noise that was definitely not a cough, and Sion actually wilted. Well, no, he just slumped a bit. But for Sion that was practically wilting all the same.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It wasn't like Tiir was actually disappointed or anything. He knew what type of man Sion was, now. So it wasn't surprising in the least.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I'll talk to Ferris," Tiir decided. "We can leave whenever she feels like it."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>That ended up being the very next morning. Apparently, Sion threatened to have Wynnit bulldozed if she didn't hurry up and stop dawdling.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Tiir rolled his eyes. Sion wasn't surprising. He never was.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Not anymore.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>ryner and tiir were the ones who got swapped, in case it wasnt clear</p></blockquote></div></div>
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